The Transparency in Maternity Care Project: The Birth Survey results are available!!!

I am so excited about the news that The Transparency in Maternity Care Project: The Birth Survey results are now available to everyone! You can search this dynamic database for information on all the providers (OB, CNM, LM, Family Practice) and birth locations specific for your area! You can read how women who have given birth in the past three years at these locations and with these providers rate their satisfaction in many categories! And you too, can rate your provider or birth location as well, sharing the information on your own personal experience. This is just so powerful, that I am giddy with excitement! Consumer information and ratings on maternity care by provider and location is a long time coming. Now, women and their families expecting a baby can make provider and facility selections based on knowledge and information that is current and reported by other consumers with recent experience with those providers and facilities!

Information available includes:

The consumer reviews just launched include:

– Overall ratings and recommendations for birth facilities and care providers
– A seven-item set of questions on providers’ interpersonal and communication skills
– Facility intervention rates
– Information on finding good care.
– A national average of ratings is also displayed to provide comparison with individual ratings.

I think this is really big, and maybe the beginning of change, women sharing information so that others can make informed choice! A huge thanks have to go out to The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) for making this possible. Check out their fantastic website just jam packed with important information for expectant families!

Taken from THe Birth Survey press release: “The Birth Survey is an ongoing project. In the summer of 2009, free-text responses will be displayed on the website, and in 2010, detailed information on patients’ experiences with prenatal, labor, birth and postpartum care will be added to the website as searchable custom reports.”

I think this will be useful to see actual comments, recognizing that this is someone’s opinion! But get enough opinions, and it starts to carry some weight.

In terms of Interventions, you can go here http://www.thebirthsurvey.com/dev/Results/learn_start.shtml to find state by state information, some which is readily available. Many hospitals do not release this information, but if you click on your state, you will find what info is available and where! And also, you can become a birth survey ambassador, and help them encourage hospitals to release this data and make it obtainable to the public! Transparency in Maternity Care! Sharon